Suspect arrested in Charlie Kirk shooting death at Utah Valley University

Manhunt ends after 33 hours.

Police have arrested Tyler Robinson in connection with the shooting death of political pundit Charlie Kirk, Gov. Spencer Cox said Friday.

The arrest puts an end to a manhunt that launched in the immediate aftermath of the deadly Wednesday afternoon shooting at Utah Valley University.

“This is certainly about the tragic death, assassination, political assassination of Charlie Kirk,” Cox said. “But it’s also so much bigger than an attack on an individual. It’s an attack on all of us. It’s an attack on the American experiment.”

Robinson is being held in the Utah County Jail, Cox said. The suspect’s family and a friend, the governor said, turned him over to law enforcement in Washington County. Robinson lived with his family in Washington City, Cox said.

The governor said Robinson “had become more political in recent years,” had mentioned Kirk was coming to Utah Valley University, “and mentioned why he didn’t like him.”

Cox said a roommate of Robinson’s showed conversations he’d had with Robinson on the app Discord. Robinson’s messages were “stating a need to retrieve a rifle from a drop point, leaving a rifle in a bush,” Cox said. The messages also mentioned engraved bullets and a unique rifle with a scope.

FBI Director Kash Patel said Robinson was taken into custody at 10 p.m. Thursday.

Utah State University confirmed in a statement Friday that Robinson “briefly attended” the northern Utah school for one semester in 2021. The governor said Robinson was not a UVU student.

President Donald Trump first announced the arrest in an appearance on FOX and Friends on Friday morning.

Trump said that “someone very close to him, the suspect, turned him in.”

The president said a minister, who is also involved in law enforcement, recognized the suspect and communicated with the suspect’s father, who brought him to a U.S. marshal.

The manhunt for the shooting suspect

Kirk, 31, was fatally shot during a speaking event on campus.

Two people were taken into custody shortly after the shooting, but the Utah Department of Public Safety ultimately found there were “no current ties to the shooting with either” of the individuals.

State and federal officials were still searching for the shooter on Thursday morning, but had begun to piece together more information about their suspect.

The FBI released two images of a person of interest, whom authorities described as college-age. The images showed a man in a black T-shirt, blue jeans, gray hat and black sunglasses.

At a news briefing on Thursday morning, the FBI and state Department of Public Safety said the shooter arrived at Wednesday’s event at 11:52 a.m.

The shooter used stairwells to access the top of a campus building, authorities said. After firing one shot, the shooter jumped from the building and fled into a neighborhood, police said.

Law enforcement officials said they found a bolt-action rifle in a wooded area during their search.

An ‘unrelated’ arrest

Orem police on Thursday morning arrested a man who allegedly trespassed into the crime scene on UVU’s campus where Kirk was shot.

The 38-year-old was wearing a lab coat and reportedly told police he was “was reminising [sic] and filming the scene,” according to a probable cause statement. Police searched his phone and said he’d taken a selfie inside the scene.

The Salt Lake Tribune generally does not identify people accused of crimes until they have been charged.

The man was booked into the Utah County jail Thursday afternoon on suspicion of obstruction of justice, a second-degree felony, and a misdemeanor count of trespassing. He was released soon after on his own recognizance, meaning he did not have to pay bail.

The Department of Public Safety said the arrest was “unrelated” to the search for the shooting suspect.

The Salt Lake Tribune will update this breaking news story.